share:

OVERVIEW

powered by AFI

Brief Synopsis

On October 16, 1803, the Spanish governor of Louisiana, alarmed at the growing American trade on the Mississippi, imposes a tax on all American goods shipped through New Orleans. Luke E. Gilmore, factor of the Louisiana Fur Company, sends his henchman Flint to stir up a rebellion among the American settlers so that Gilmore can become head of the territory. However, respected leader John Colfax persuades the Americans to hold off any action until he lays their grievances before President Thomas Jefferson, whom John once saved. After Flint, sent to kill John, fails, John convinces Jefferson of Gilmore's plot. Jefferson, who wants to acquire the territory peacefully, signs a note stating that the settlers should follow John's leadership. On the ferry back across the Mississippi, John meets Dona Angela Gonzalez, the daughter of the district governor of Upper Louisiana. After John and his scout Kentuck throw a bale of tobacco, containing hidden guns for Gilmore, into the river, they fight Gilmore's men. John escapes with Angela and takes her to her home in St. Louis, where her father insists that according to Spanish custom, John and Angela must marry because they spent the night together in the woods. When John argues against it, Angela is insulted. Her father arrests John because Gilmore and Flint accuse him of smuggling the guns, and they find Jefferson's letter. Angela gets a message to Kentuck and John's friends, who break him out of jail, after which he confesses his love to Angela. Meanwhile, Gilmore and Flint organize men to attack Gonzalez' soldiers and then try to convince Gonzalez to declare Louisiana an independent republic. When he refuses, they threaten to kill him and Angela if he doesn't sign a resignation note, but John and the settlers arrive and rescue them. Kentuck kills Flint and Gilmore is arrested for treason. John, hugging Angela, agrees willingly to remain until confirmation is received concerning the Louisiana Purchase, and now happily consents to Gonzalez' request that he observe the Spanish custom still in force regarding marriage.